Reading: IN THE ROLE OF BRIE HUTCHENS - Nicole Melleby

(BLOG TOUR SPOTLIGHT)
Brie Hutchens - outspoken 13-year-old 8th-grade soap opera superfan  and actor wannabe, attending the small Our Lady of Perpetual Help in her New Jersey hometown - is nearly busted by her mother looking at racy photos of her favorite soap actress online. Only a huge lie - that Brie has been chosen to crown Mary at her school's upcoming May crowning - distracts the attention of her mom, a devout Catholic, just in time, but now it's up to Brie to make the lie true; not an easy task, especially when the honor goes to the student who writes the best essay, and Brie has never tried too hard at school. No, those kind of honors usually go to a super-student like the pretty and popular Kennedy Bishop, pretty much Brie's mortal enemy ... until Brie's recent realization that maybe she likes girls manifests in nothing less than an all-out crush on none other than Kennedy. Add to this Brie's determination to land a role in the 8th-grade play - her acting debut! - as well as audition for a performing arts high school her parents probably can't afford - and even for a stubborn, single-minded 13-year-old dealing with her new/confusing feelings and how they can co-exist with her devout mother and her own shaky faith, the rest of the school year seems determined to come packed with more drama than Brie's favorite soap. Not since Harriet the Spy when I was eleven years old (several decades ago) have I come across a middle-grade heroine worth rooting for more than the very average yet very special Brie Hutchens. This Own Voices novel about Brie's confusion, fears, and desires in coming out, trying to accept herself even as she worries about the reactions of her friends and family (especially her mom) while also dealing with her first crush, is poignant, at times both heartbreaking and funny but always exceptionally real. So much so, both young people struggling to come out/accept themselves and the parents raising them could equally benefit from this touching, funny, ultimately uplifting novel. An unexpected gem.  5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review

Reading: GAME OF DOG BONES - Laurien Berenson

Twenty-five books in, Laurien Berenson's Melanie Travis Canine Mysteries series remains as fresh as if this were book one, as Melanie's Aunt Peg - poodle breeder and all-around dog expert (though she sometimes comes off as an expert on pretty much anything) - is presented with the opportunity to act as a judge at no less than the Westminster Dog Show in New York City. Also in attendance, unfortunately, is Victor Durbin - possibly the most disliked poodle breeder on the entire east coast, and a longtime nemesis of Aunt Peg's who started his own club for poodle owners/breeders after being thrown out of the group he and Peg were in, due to questionable ethics. A con man, womanizer, and businessman with zero scruples or morals, it's almost no surprise when Victor shows up stabbed to death in a men's room at Madison Square Garden ... and when Aunt Peg virtually tops the list of suspects, it's up to Melanie to clear her name and find a killer not many people are all that anxious to find, Victor being such a scuzzball. Berenson opens this one with a great amount of info on Westminster, the epitome of dog shows, and how that show and the judging is done, but it never feels like an info dump as the facts are incorporated into the story in a way that's not just informative but will immediately draw in any dog lover. As always, once Melanie starts poking around readers are treated to a variety of potential suspects as Victor is proven to be an even more odious person than even Melanie at first thought, making her job as sleuth that much harder. It's a well-plotted, tightly-written, with Melanie and her family and friends coming fully to life on the page - but what blew this jaded reader away this time, more than anything, was the finale. Not only does the final confrontation play out perfectly on the page, full of suspense, wholly believable and without one word wasted, but the mystery's resolution comes with a surprising level of pathos and depth not usually associated with what we've come to think of as the "lighthearted" cozy. And boy, does it work well as a solution, delivering a true punch at the end. That said, this highly entertaining mystery also comes with its share of humor, light moments, and dogs - many dogs naturally - but the addition of the more complex solution, as well as a subplot involving a gay male couple (good friends of Melanie's and her family) and their upcoming wedding, truly gives Game of Dog Bones an unexpected level of resonance not often found in this genre.  4.5/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: ALONG THE TAPAJOS - Fernando Vilela (author), Daniel Hahn (translator)

Originally published in Brazil, this picture book is an intriguing, one-of-a-kind look at a pair of children - brother and sister Caua and Inae - whose town must evacuate when the rainy season arrives. Far from unusual, this is the norm here; the kids live with their parents right on the Tapajos River, where all the houses/buildings are on stilts and even a rides for supplies or to school are done in a boat - and the coming rains necessitate the move to higher ground until the season passes and the waters recede. This time out, however, the siblings realize - after the move - that they've left behind their pet tortoise Titi! Unlike turtles, tortoises cannot swim, so even though forbidden to go back, that night Caua and Inae sneak out under the cover of darkness to rescue their beloved friend. Along the Tapajos is a terrific glimpse into another lifestyle and culture that most children, especially in the States, would probably otherwise not be so readily exposed to, and for this reason alone it belongs in any kid's library. Better still, both story and pictures bring the "wow factor" necessary to draw any kid into this world - even not counting the idea of a pair of kids risking it all to save their pet from harm! Really great as both entertainment and education.  4.5/5 stars

Reading: CHECK, PLEASE! BOOK 1: #HOCKEY - Ngozi Ukazu

Webcomic series sensation-turned-graphic novel, Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey follows vlogger and figure skating pro Eric Bittle, as he leaves small-town Georgia life behind to start college at Samwell, his choice college because of the school's reputation for 1) its awesome hockey team; and 2) its open acceptance of LGBT+ students. Originally setting up his vlog as a platform for college life and his #1 passion (baking), volume one of this two-volume set covers Eric's freshman and junior years of college in total, in which he learns that college hockey comes with "checking" (something that Eric's never experienced and is terrified of: direct contact on the ice with another player) - as well as an ornery hockey team captain, Jack, who comes with his own baggage and very little patience for Eric's checking issues. The artwork here is beautiful, feeling very much like an animated series come to life on the page, and Eric is a genuinely funny, engaging, bighearted guy who - though it takes awhile - finally begins to come to terms with the fact he's falling for his very hetero-appearing team captain. For all its strengths, however, for me I found my attention wandering sometimes while reading it. Maybe because of reading it as one volume instead of as a webcomic, but for me the book was more all about hockey, the blooming crush/love story between Eric and Jake fairly non-existent until very close to the end of the book. Also, as open and tolerant as Samwell University is in these pages, I found it unrealistic that never, within the course of the entire story, does Eric run into so much as a negative comment about gays or the LGBT+ community. Not that I wanted him to, but story-wise it makes for zero conflict or tension, and comes off not very true-to-life - so between that and the potential romance that doesn't come up until toward the end, outside of hockey and pie-making and depictions of frat house life, there just isn't a lot of story here to propel a reader forward; to hold your interest and keep reading, unless maybe hockey is your passion. That said, the characters are wonderful, and book one does end on a cliffhanger that more than propels you into book two. Which I will be following up with, as it seems Eric's junior and senior years are where the meat of this story lies.  3/5 stars

Reading: THE GUEST LIST - Lucy Foley

While I can't buy too much into the Agatha Christie comparisons (beyond this story of a group of people trapped on a secluded island with a dead body), The Guest List is a good, serviceable mystery-thriller that starts with a scream that results in the discovery of a body on the evening of one of the biggest, most exclusive weddings of the year ... before going back in time to narrate for readers how the whole mess came about in the first place (all while the reader is supposed to guess not only the identity of the killer, but also the corpse). The bulk of the book is laid out via first-person multiple POVs from five of the wedding participants - Jules, the demanding bride; Olivia, her milquetoast half-sister and bridesmaid; Hannah, the "plus one" who's arrived on the island with her husband - Jules's long-term best buddy (and possible ex?); Johnno, the best man and groom's slovenly slacker of a best friend; and Aoife, the wedding planner who, along with her chef husband, owns and runs the wedding venue on this rocky, desolate island off the coast of Ireland. Each chapter is short and does its best to end with at least a minor cliffhanger, occasionally interspersed with an even briefer "flash-forward" chapter bringing us back to the wedding night for more clues as to what's going on - all during which we slowly learn that each narrator has his or her own guilty secret, and/or hidden agenda for attending. My only real complaint about the book is that the constant change of perspective with each chapter, along with the cliffhanger teases at the end of each, eventually grows a bit old and tropey; so much so, at times in the middle of the book I found myself not as enthusiastic as I should have been to pick it up again. Thankfully I kept at it, because the end reveal of killer and victim - and how everything and everyone got there - was so good, so worth it, I nearly forgot getting bogged down a bit on the way there! Ultimately more mystery than thriller, The Guest List ended up a pretty solid treat, the solution/ending alone easily bumping up what could have been a three-star read by at least another star. Most definitely worth your time.  4/5 stars

NOTE: I received a free ARC of this title from Goodreads and the publisher, in exchange for an honest review.

Reading: THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB'S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES - Grady Hendrix

Grady Hendrix has been on my radar for awhile - in fact, I think I have three of his books on my Kindle now - but between this brilliant title and the "Steel Magnolias meets Dracula" (which, actually, is loosely accurate) tagline, this seemed THE place to start. When you begin, the tone of this book immediately comes off very retro - old-school 1950's - but the novel is set in present day, and I soon realized the "bygone-era" feel of the book could be attributed to the story being set in/near Charleston, South Carolina, where a group of friends and bored housewives/mothers - "genteel southern ladies" - have formed a sort of underground book club where they read virtually nothing but true crime. Patricia Campbell, mother of a teen and pre-teen and wife to a workaholic, is maybe the most unassuming of the ladies; she spends her days taking care of her senile mother-in-law, who lives with them, and pretty much being ignored by her family. Longing for something more, some kind of real adventure in her humdrum upscale suburban life, Patricia gets more than her wish when one night while taking out the trash she is viciously attacked by an elderly neighbor in her own yard, the old woman seemingly gone insane or rabid to the point she even bites off part of Patricia's ear. Patricia survives, but the neighbor dies days later in the hospital - and soon after Patricia meets and becomes friends with her attacker's live-in nephew, James Harris, a handsome, well-built and enigmatic man with all his southern manners in place; indeed, he won't even enter Patricia's home for the first time until formally invited in. At first intrigued by the attention and adventure James brings to her life, as the man also ingratiates himself into the lives of her family and friends, after a couple of disturbing incidents Patricia starts piecing together clues that make her wonder if James is really the person her claims to be - or if, indeed, he may even be a person at all. And when she learns that children from the poorer side of town are starting to act strangely - even committing suicide after severe behavior changes - Patricia sets out to prove James Harris is behind the deaths, even at the risk of her own. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires is a slow burn at first, Hendrix rightly setting up both characters and story so well, the reader is fully hooked into both narrative and people by the time the crazy-grisly set pieces begin. For sure, the book is not for the fainthearted; for those who can't handle very descriptive scenes of horror. If you can? WOW, what a roller-coaster ride this puppy is, the book going off on a few unexpected paths, making the bad guy seem unstoppable against this group of "genteel southern ladies" - who must somehow come together and be anything but. Visceral, emotional, riveting, darkly funny, bloody as heck, superbly-written, and - as of this writing - my favorite read of 2020.  5/5 stars